Railway Excursions, 1840

To other lines of the North Eastern Railway the public are indebted for the introduction of the excursion system. Probably the first line on which passengers were carried at special fares was the Whitby and Pickering Railway. The occasion was a bazaar held on the 7th and 8th of August, 1839, for church building purposes at Grosmont. The usual fare to Grosmont from Whitby was 9d. and from Pickering 2s. 3d., but, to increase the number of visitors to the ba,zaar, the fare was reduced in the one case to 6d. and in the other to Is. 6d., coaches being run from Whitby every hour after 9 o'clock in the morning and from Pickering as often as required.

The excursion system really dates from 1840. It was the outcome of special arrangements for the benefit of Mechanics' Institutes originating with the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. There had been opened in Newcastle on the 6th April, 1840, a Polytechnic Exhibition of great interest, and it was suggested to the directors of the Railway that they should allow visitors to the Exhibition from Carlisle to travel at reduced fares by certain trains. The suggestion was adopted and tickets at 10s. each were issued on the 13th, 15th, 20th, and 22nd of May by the "mixed" train leaving Carlisle at 5'45 a.m., available for return by the "quick" train leaving Newcastle at 5 p.m. As ordinary passengers travelling in the second-class or open carriages would have had to pay 16s., namely, 7s. 6d. by the "mixed" train and 8s. 6d. by the "quick" train, the reduction amounted to 6s.

A Sunday excursion train was the next railway novelty. The first train of this kind, consisting of 15 carriages drawn by the "Wellington" engine, left Newcastle for Carlisle on the 14th June, 1840, with about 320 passengers — the agents and workmen of Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn and their friends, whom the Company had agreed to carry at half price on a certain number being guaranteed.

Extract from: Tomlinson, William Weaver. The North Eastern Railway; its rise and development, 1915. p372.